Happy Birthday to The St. Louis Gateway Arch


October 28 marks the anniversary of the Gateway Memorial Arch in St. Louis.  If you have never visited this national monument, put it on your list.  
Despite what you have heard in Hamilton Thomas Jefferson is one of our best Presidents. He was neither a perfect man, nor perfect President, but he accomplished great things and operated within his personal set of ethics, whether or not those mesh with 21st century guidelines or not.  Among other accomplishments, he authorized the Louisiana Purchase, effectively doubling the size of the United States of America, and laying our claim to the both coasts of the North American continent.  Jefferson then set Meriwether Lewis and William Clark off to explore, map and scientifically examine the land he had acquired for about $18 per acre. 
For this any other reasons, Jefferson is also the namesake and reason the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial exists.  What most American’s simply know as the “Arch” is part of a memorial to Jefferson and the expansion of the country westward after the Louisiana Purchase and its subsequent exploration by Lewis and Clark.  In both of these endeavors, St. Louis was a key point of focus, departure and debate.
The Arch itself is an elegant and simple design, 630 feet of unadorned stainless steel in the shape of an inverted catenary arch.  That is, the arch, forms a natural curve under its own weight when supported by its two ends.  If you take that gravity induced arch and invert it, you have the Gateway Arch.  The idea of a memorial to the vision and courage of Jefferson goes back to 1933, but it was 1947 when two men (both part of our immigrant strength) developed the design of the Arch. The construction had to wait until 1963. 
The Finnish-American, Eero Saarinen was the architect of the Arch, and German-American Hannskarl Bandel was the structural engineer. 
The builders were met with the usual skepticism from those who don’t like money or time spent on anything they can’t imagine.  The Brooklyn Bridge and the Eiffel Tower, not to mention our entire space program, were met with the same discontent.  “Why,” people ask, “are we spending money on this when we could be spending it on more practical tasks that alleviate immediate suffering and want?”  The answer is that things which are commercially or aesthetically pleasing are also of value, and, indeed, can produce more bang for the buck than money spent on small scale and transient projects.  Not that one is not more important than another, but equally so.  As my grandmother used to say, sometimes the longest way around is the shortest way home. 
The Arch cost $13 million dollars.  Using the basic money multiplier, that means it produced over $26 million in jobs, wages, production and taxable revenue.  That is a bunch of civic improvement! 
Under the Arch is a museum filled with displays, artifacts and taxidermy animals showing the westward expansion of the country.  The legs of the Arch are hollow and have a cog railway that takes people to the top of the structure where you can look out windows at the land, the Mississippi River and the grounds of the park.  Yes, you can feel the Arch sway slightly in the wind.  This is normal.  Fear not.
The Gateway Arch is a monument.  Monuments are made to make people remember the past and feel positive about the future.  The Arch does exactly that. 
St. Louis is the home of many exciting places to visit.  It is a city of history, culture, sports and art.  You can enjoy the St. Louis Zoo (world class and FREE); Forest Park (which is bigger than Central Park in New York City); the art museum, the Anheuser-Busch brewery and Clydesdale stables, catch a Cardinals baseball game and see what it is like to watch the game with the world’s best baseball fans.  But make sure you include a day at the Arch in that schedule.  It will lift you up.
Enjoy our nation’s monuments and keep the faith.   

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